Electroreduction of nitrogen with almost 100% current-to-ammonia efficiency

Low-temperature electrochemical ammonia synthesis: recent progress and comparison to Haber-Bosch in terms of energy efficiency

“…A breakthrough in Faradaic efficiency of up to 100% was recently achieved by Du and coworkers. 7 They investigated the role of electrolytes in Li-ENRR and presented a high 3. 3,4,10 , 7,23,25-145 The fully reliable aqueous works with Faradaic efficiency above 20% are summarized in Table 1.…”

“…There have been several breakthroughs in this field, where ENRR was engineered to occur at near to 100% selectivity, and this field is no longer challenged by selectivity issues, as it historically was. 7 High selectivity of electrochemical synthesis of ammonia has been reported in both aqueous and non-aqueous media. Furthermore, new start-up companies intending to bring these technologies to the market have been established, and with these recent developments it is timely to assess electrochemical synthesis of ammonia for energy consumption and efficiency and benchmark it against the well-known Haber-Bosch Process.…”

Chemistry must respond to the crisis of transgression of planetary boundaries

“… 28 An illustration can be seen in the case of ammonia, traditionally manufactured by the Haber–Bosch process which sources hydrogen by cracking CH 4 , as well as using energy to drive the reaction that is usually sourced from fossil fuels, together contributing massively to atmospheric release of CO 2 . While there are now major efforts 29 to manufacture ‘green’ NH 3 , these need to be accompanied by great reduction in the excessive biogeochemical flow of nitrogen ( Table 1 ). Other challenges for chemists include sustainable energy production from renewable, sustainable, non-polluting sources, 30 including design of compounds that can mediate the transformation of solar energy to electricity; 31 and capture of CO 2 at the site of production 32 as well as via atmospheric sequestration, combined with designing alternative fates for CO 2 , 33 and developing sustainable alternatives to traditional concrete 34 and reuse of waste concrete.…”

The Role of Ion Solvation in Lithium Mediated Nitrogen Reduction

“…The authors were able to achieve stable operation for over 3 days and maximal Faradaic efficiencies of 69 ± 1 % under 0.5 bar H2 and 19.5 bar N2 partial pressures 17 . Du et al also achieved close to 100% Faradaic efficiencies using higher concentrations of LiNTf salt under 15 bar N2, suggesting that a thin and dense SEI results in improved Li cycling and Faradaic efficiency 16 . However, the study did not focus on SEI or bulk electrolyte characterisation.…”

“…Increasing the concentration of salt in the Tsuneto electrolyte could create a more stable, more inorganic SEI and prevent working electrode drift, which was briefly mentioned by Li et al 31 where the authors noticed an improvement in stability with a 2 M LiClO4 concentration. Du et al achieve excellent Faradaic efficiencies and stability using 1.5 M LiNTf in a THF and ethanol containing electrolyte, and note a change in Faradaic efficiency with increasing salt concentration, but do not link this rigorously to the properties of the SEI 16 . Until now there has been limited fundamental understanding in exactly how the bulk characteristics of the electrolyte impact the catalytic performance of the system, and even less understanding into the role or chemical makeup of the SEI.…”